Australia Day in Spring event celebrates cultural diversity of Pakistan and Australia

Australia Day in Spring event celebrates cultural diversity of Australia and Pakistan

To mark Australia Day in Spring in Pakistan’s 70th year, Australian High Commission in Islamabad hosted a special reception.

The theme of this year’s Australia Day event is to celebrate cultural diversity of Australia and Pakistan and the strong people-to-people links between the two countries in the 70th year of Pakistan’s existence and of diplomatic relations.

The reception showcased cultural diversity through music. A musical performance was held at the event featuring Pakistani-Australian singer/songwriter Mahmood Khan, who had flown in from Australia especially to join the celebrations, and students from the Leif Larsen Music Centre Hunza playing traditional Burushaski music of Gilgit Baltistan on Rabab and Sitar.

National anthems of both countries were played on the occasion and a special cake was cut.

Australian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Margaret Adamson expressing her views said that trade between Pakistan and Australia is expanding quickly and its volume has increased up to A$1.60 billion, which still has the capacity to expand.

Pakistan’s Minister for Commerce and Member National Assembly Khurram Dastgir was the chief guest at the event. Khurram Dastgir said that relations between both countries are wonderful in all departments. The minister expressed felicitations to Margaret Adamson on Australia Day in spring on behalf of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and said cultural heritage will further strengthen the relations of Pakistan and Australia.

“Australia is one of the most culturally and linguistically diverse nations in the world, where a migrant arrives to start a new life every 1 minute and 29 seconds. Almost 400 different languages, including indigenous languages, are spoken collectively by Australia’s 24 million people, and an estimated 75 per cent of Australia’s population identify with an ancestry other than Australian,” Ms Adamson said.

Over 55,000 people of Pakistani origin are living and working in Australia. These people-to-people links and a shared diversity of culture strengthen the Australia-Pakistan relationship.